Housing for a disc-shaped information carrier

ABSTRACT

A housing for storing a disc-shaped information carrier, for example a DVD. The housing is provided with a bottom part ( 1 ) with a retaining device ( 7 ) for the information carrier and a lid part ( 3 ) which is connected with hinging possibility to the bottom part. Two corner hinges form the connection here, which corner hinges comprise two recessed hinge arms ( 30 ) of the hinge part and two matching recessed hinge walls ( 36 ). The lid part is provided with protection walls ( 42 ) which extend at the outside of the housing substantially parallel to the hinge arms so as to protect the hinge arms from external mechanical influences. The distance between each hinge arm and the facing parallel portion off its opposite protection wall has a value lying in the range between 6.6 mm and 13.1 mm.

The invention relates to a housing for storing a disc-shaped informationcarrier, provided with a bottom part, a retaining device for retainingthe information carrier, and a lid part connected to the bottom part bymeans of two corner hinges, which lid part comprises two hingestructures each provided with a recessed hinge arm which is recessedwith respect to a lateral side of the lid part, and with a protectionwall present opposite said hinge arm and having a wall portion extendingsubstantially parallel to said hinge arm and at said lateral side of thelid part, and which bottom part is provided with two corner recesseswhich match the recessed hinge arms and in which the hinge arms extend,said corner recesses being bounded by recessed hinge walls which areeach recessed with respect to a lateral side of the bottom part, whilethe recessed hinge arms are coupled with rotation possibility to therecessed hinge walls for forming said corner hinges.

The PCT Patent application WO 99/17291 discloses a housing for storingone or more disc-shaped information carriers, for example a DVD. Thehousing is provided with a bottom part, a retaining device present inthe bottom part for retaining the information carrier, and a lid partwhich is rotatably connected to the bottom part. The lid part isprovided with two recessed hinge arms which are each recessed withrespect to a lateral side of the lid part. The bottom part is providedwith two corner recesses which match the recessed hinge arms and inwhich the hinge arms extend. The corner recesses are bounded by recessedhinge walls which are each recessed with respect to a lateral side ofthe bottom part. The recessed hinge arms are provided with hinge studsextending into openings of the recessed hinge walls for forming cornerhinges. The lid part is provided with two protection walls, each presentopposite a respective hinge arm, which extend substantially at thelateral sides of the lid part.

The lid part of the known housing is an injection-molded product and hasbeen made from polypropylene. It was found that the time needed formolding a lid part is rather long. As the housing is meant for massproduction it will be clear that the cycle time of the molding processis an essential parameter in the manufacture of the housing,particularly with respect to the number of molded lid parts per timeunit.

The invention has for its object to improve the housing of the kindmentioned in the opening paragraph such that it can be produced in ashorter time.

This object is achieved by the housing according to the invention, whichis characterized in that the distance between the recessed hinge arm andthe wall portion in each hinge structure has a value which is equal toor greater than 6.6 mm.

Owing to the special positioning of the hinge arms and the hinge wallsof the housing to which the invention relates, the corner hinges lierecessed with respect to the lateral contours of the housing formed bythe lateral sides of the bottom part and the lid part. The corner hingesare in addition protected by the protection walls extending along thehinge walls. As a result of this, the housing and more in particular thehinges thereof are very well resistant to mechanical external influencescaused by, for example, dropping or impacts. The housing according tothe invention is suitable for storing disc-shaped information carrierssuch as optical or magneto-optical discs, for example provided withaudio, video, or data information.

It has been experimentally proven that the cycle time for molding a lidpart can be substantially shortened by the distance applied between thehinge arm and the wall portion in each hinge structure. It was foundthat the time needed for manufacturing a lid part of the known housingby means of injection molding is 6.2 s. With the same kind of mold, thetime needed for manufacturing a lid part of the housing according to theinvention is only 5.6 s. Thus a time reduction of about 10% isattainable without changing the molding process as such. This leads to aconsiderable saving in production cost. The mentioned effect cannot beobtained if the distance is below 6.6 mm or above 13.1 mm. A practicalupper value for the distance is 13.1 mm.

A practical embodiment of the housing according to the invention has thecharacteristic that the distance between the hinge arm and the wallportion in each hinge structure is 9.8 mm. The lid part is preferablyplate-shaped and preferably has two areas or faces defined by andcovering hinge structures. Such areas are particularly suitable fordisplaying signs, such as a logo or a trademark.

The housing preferably has the feature that the hinge arm or the hingewall of each corner hinge is provided with a stud or a round pin whichprojects into an opening of the corresponding hinge wall or hinge armnot provided with a stud. The hinge arms and the hinge walls are thuscoupled to one another with hinging possibility in a simple and reliablemanner. To facilitate the fastening of the lid to the bottom part, thehinge arms are preferably resilient in directions towards one anotherand/or away from one another, whereas the hinge walls are rigid. Thestuds or rounds pins are preferably present on the hinge arms and can beeasily inserted into the openings, which are present in the hinge wallsin this case, during the assembling process of the housing. Afterassembly, the resilient hinge arms ensure that the studs or pins remainlocked in the openings. The bottom part is usually given a box shape andis provided with vertical side walls. The recessed hinge walls arepreferably formed by wall portions shifted to the inside with respect tosaid side walls in such a bottom part.

The protection walls of the hinge structures are preferably of aresilient construction. A somewhat yielding, and accordinglyparticularly effective protection of the corner hinges is achievedthereby. The protection walls are preferably resilient in directionstowards one another and away from one another.

The protection walls may extend entirely within the outer contours ofthe housing, wherein the protection walls extend in the corner recessesof the bottom part. The protection walls preferably lie in the extendeddirections of the side walls of the bottom part in the case of a bottompart having a box shape.

The protection walls are preferably each provided with a free endportion, which free end portions are bent towards one another and eachextend opposite to and at a distance from a free end of one of the hingearms. This provides a maximum protection for the corner hinges.

Each of the protection walls is preferably provided with a fluentlycurved portion which merges into the end portion and which forms arounded transition between one of the lateral sides of the bottom partand a rear side of the bottom part at least when the lid part is in aclosed position. The round transitions thus obtained form an idealpossibility for giving corner portions of the housing present adjacentthe corner hinges rounded angles. Rounded angles render the housing morecustomer-friendly on account of the absence of sharp corner portions andare better resistant to damage than are straight angles. Preferably,therefore, all corners of the housing are rounded-angle corners.

The lid part is preferably constructed as one product, in particular aninjection-molded product. The bottom part preferably also is oneinjection-molded product. This renders a simple manufacture of the totalhousing possible, including the hinging device. The housing ispreferably made from a transparent material so as to maximize thepossibility of accommodating in the housing information which is legiblefrom the outside. A suitable material is, for example, polystyrene.

It is to be noted that variants of the housing according to theinvention are also possible which are provided with a combination offeatures described above.

The housing according to the invention may have external dimensionswhich substantially correspond to those of the generally known CD jewelbox, i.e. a depth of 142 mm, a width of 124 mm and a height of 10 mm.Another suitable size of the housing according to the invention isdefined by a depth of 190 mm, a width of 142 mm and a height of 10 mm.

The invention will be explained in more detail by way of example withreference to the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first embodiment of the housingaccording to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment in a closed state,

FIG. 3 shows a portion of the housing provided with a corner hinge on anenlarged scale,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the housing according tothe invention, comprising a bottom part and a lid part in an openedstate,

FIG. 5A is a plan view showing the bottom part of the second embodiment,provided with a retaining device, and

FIG. 5B shows said bottom part in a cross-section taken on the line V-Vin FIG. 5A.

The housing according to the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 issuitable for the storage of an optical information carrier 20, in thisexample a DVD provided with audio information. Such an informationcarrier has one or several optically writable and/or readableinformation layers and is provided with a central opening. The housing,which is constructed in two parts, comprises a bottom part 1 and aplate-shaped lid part 3 which are interconnected with hingingpossibility by means of corner hinges 5A and 5B. The bottom part 1comprises a retaining device 7, in this example an inlay tray, with acentral clamping device 7 a for retaining the information carrier withclamping force, such that the central clamping device 7 a projects intothe central opening of the information carrier in the clamped state. Theretaining device may also form an integral portion of the bottom part inan alternative embodiment.

The bottom part 1 has a box shape, is open at one side, and is providedwith a bottom wall 2, a front wall 1 a and a rear wall 1 b which areperpendicular to the bottom wall 2, and two side walls 1 c which areperpendicular to the bottom wall 2. The front wall 1 a, the rear wall 1b, and the side walls 1 c, which all have the same height, aretransparent and substantially uninterrupted over at least the majorportion of their length. In this example, the bottom wall 2 is alsotransparent. The rear wall 1 b forms a rear end of the housing, adjacentwhich rear end the hinges 5A and 5B are present The lid part 3substantially has a plate shape, is transparent, and in the presentexample is provided with tags 3 a at the side facing the bottom part 1for retaining an inserted information booklet or leaflet 9. In thisexample, the housing has the following external dimensions: a depth d of142 mm, a width w of 124 mm, and a height h of 10 mm. The housing isprovided with rounded corners 4.

An insert 11 is present in the present embodiment of the housingaccording to the invention, extending in the bottom part 1, inparticular on the bottom wall 2. The insert 11 in this example comprisesfour upright portions, i.e. a portion 11 a extending opposite the frontwall 1 a, a portion 11 b extending opposite the rear wall 1 b, and twoportions 11 c extending opposite the side walls 1 c. The sides of theupright portions 11 a, 11 b, and 11 c facing the transparent walls 1 a,1 b, and 1 c are provided with printed information relating to theinformation carrier 20 belonging to the housing. The upright portions 11a, 11 b, and 11 c preferably form an integral whole with a main portion12 of the insert and are bent relative to the latter about foldinglines. The insert 11 may be made from paper, from a synthetic resin, orfrom some other suitable material.

As is apparent from the drawing, the insert 11 fully inside the bottompart 1, the main portion 12 in this example extending between the bottomwall 2 and the retaining device 7.

The construction of the corner hinges 5A and 5B, which are basicallyidentical, will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1,2, and 3. Each of the corner hinges 5A and 5B comprises two hingestructures with recessed hinge arms 30 which form part of the lid part 3and which are recessed with respect to the respective lateral sides 32of the lid part 3. The hinge arms 30 are somewhat resilient indirections towards one another and away from one another and are eachprovided with a stud 34, said two studs 34 being present at mutuallyfacing sides of the hinge arms 30. The hinges 5A and 5B each furthercomprise a recessed hinge wall 36 which forms part of the bottom part 1.The hinge walls 36, which lie recessed behind the lateral sides of thebottom part 1 formed by the side walls 1 c, are provided with openings38 into which the respective studs 34 are inserted. The bottom part isprovided with corner recesses 40 to enable the placement of the hingewalls 36. The corner hinges 5A and 5B are present essentially in saidcorner recesses 40. To protect the hinge arm 30, the hinge structures ofthe corner hinges 5A and 5B have protection walls 42 at the sides 32.The protection walls 42 extend at a certain distance from and for themajor part parallel or substantially parallel to the hinge arms 30 andmay be made somewhat resilient in transverse direction. The wallportions which are parallel to the hinge arms 30 are indicated by thenumeral 42A. In this example the distance d between a hinge arm 30 andits facing wall portion 42A is 9.8 mm. The lid part 3 has two areas 35which are defined by the hinge structures, i.e. the hinge arms 30 andthe protection walls 42, and which cover these structures. In thisexample the areas 35 are provided with a logo, e.g. representing thetype of disc stored in the housing, or a business name. The appliedrelatively wide distance between the hinge arms and the facing wallportions makes it possible to provide a mold used for manufacturing thelid part with exchangeable insert mold parts representing logos.

In this embodiment, the protection walls 42 are provided with free endportions 44 which are curved towards one another and which extend atsome distance from the free ends 46 of the hinge arms 30. The free endportions 44 are connected to the remainder of the walls 42 via fluentlycurved portions 48 of the protection walls 42. The curved portions 48extend through at least substantially 90° and form rounded transitionsto the rear side formed by the rear wall 1 b of the bottom part, thusforming two of the rounded corners 4 of the housing. The protectionwalls 42 are so positioned in the corner recesses 40 that they lie flushwith the side walls 1 c of the bottom part 1. Both the entire bottompart 1 and the entire lid part 3 form an integral injection-moldedproduct.

The housing according to the invention shown in FIGS. 4, 5A, and 5B isdesigned, for example, for the storage of a DVD provided with videoinformation. The dimensions of the housing in this example are: a depthd of 142 mm, a width w of 190 mm, and a height h of 10 mm. The housingis provided with a bottom part 101 and a lid part 103. In the bottompart there is a retaining device 107 comprising a more or lessplate-shaped element 107 a which is provided with a clamping member 107b for retaining an information carrier 120 with clamping force. The lidpart 103 is connected to the bottom part 101 by means of two cornerhinges 105A and 105B and is provided with two recessed hinge arms 130which each lie recessed with respect to a side 132 of the lid part 103.The bottom part 101 is provided with two corner recesses 140 adapted tothe hinge arms 130 and bounded by recessed hinge walls 136 which eachlie recessed with respect to a side 101 c of the bottom part 101. Thehinge arms 130 extend in the corner recesses 140 such that the hingearms 130 and the hinge walls 136 constitute said corner hinges 105A and105B. The hinge arms 130 are provided with studs 134 here which projectinto openings 138 of the hinge walls 136. The lid 103 is in additionprovided with two protection walls 142, each of the protection walls 142lying opposite a respective hinge wall 130.

The protection walls 142 are each provided with a free end portion 144,said free end portions 144 being curved towards one another and eachextending opposite to and at a distance from one of the hinge arms 130.Each of the projection walls 142 is in addition provided with a fluentlycurved portion 148 which merges into the end portion 144 such thatrounded transitions are formed between the lateral sides 101 c and therear side 101 b of the bottom part 101 when the housing is closed, sothat the housing will have rounded corners at the areas of the cornerrecesses 140. To avoid sharp corners also at the front of the housing,the bottom part 101 and the lid part 103 are rounded at the transitionsbetween their fronts and their lateral sides. Sturdy ridges 150 areprovided between the hinge arms 130 and the protection walls 142 forreinforcement. The element 107 a present in the bottom part 103 isdetachably fastened to the bottom part 103, for example by means of twosnap closure elements 151. The element 107 a is provided with uprightwalls 153 which extend at some distance from transparent walls 155 ofthe bottom part 103. An information leaflet 111 extends between thebottom part 103 and the element 107 a, upright portions 111 a of theleaflet 111 lying protected between said walls 153 and said transparentwalls 155. The element 107 a is provided with a number, in this examplefour, of openings or recesses 157 so that the information disc 120 canbe easily taken from the housing.

It is noted that the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown;thus, for example, the retaining device and/or some other componentrelevant to the invention may be constructed in a different manner. Itis also possible for the housing to be specifically adapted to differenttypes of disc-shaped information carriers. It is furthermore possiblethat the housing does not accommodate an insert. In such a case theretaining device may be an integral part of the bottom wall, and theside walls may be locally interrupted, particularly in a centralportion.

1. A housing for storing a disc-shaped information carrier, providedwith a bottom part, a retaining device for retaining the informationcarrier, and a lid part connected to the bottom part by means of twocorner hinges, which lid part comprises two hinge structures eachprovided with a recessed hinge arm which is recessed with respect to alateral side of the lid part, and with a protection wall presentopposite said hinge arm and having a wall portion extendingsubstantially parallel to said hinge arm and at said lateral side of thelid part, and which bottom part is provided with two corner recesseswhich match the recessed hinge arms and in which the hinge arms extend,said corner recesses being bounded by recessed hinge walls which areeach recessed with respect to a lateral side of the bottom part, whilethe recessed hinge arms are coupled with rotation possibility to therecessed hinge walls for forming said corner hinges, wherein thedistance between the recessed hinge arm and the wall portion in eachhinge structure has a value which is at least 6.6 mm.
 2. A housing asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between the recessed hinge armand the wall portion in each hinge structure is 9.8 mm.
 3. A housing asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the lid part is plate-shaped and has twoareas defined by and covering the hinge structures.
 4. A housing asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the two areas of the lid part are providedwith signs.
 5. A housing a claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has adepth of 142 mm, a width of 124 mm, and a height of 100 mm.
 6. A housingas claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a depth of 190 mm, awidth of 142 mm, and a height of 10 mm.
 7. A housing as claimed in claim1, wherein the lid part is an injection-molded product.
 8. A housing asclaimed in claim 7, wherein the lid part and the bottom part are made ofpolystyrene.
 9. A housing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retainingdevice is pivotably mounted to the housing.
 10. A lid part as defined inclaim 1 and thereby suitable for use in a housing as claimed in claim 1.